Wall-mounted dispensers are commonly used to dispense soap, lotion, and similar flowable products. In general, they consist of a wall-mounted cabinet or dispenser that defines a chamber or cavity for receipt of cartridges that contain the soap or other product. For purposes of simplicity, “soap” will be used to describe the product being dispensed. It being understood that other lotions, skin care products, or other viscous fluids can be dispensed in this fashion and that the present invention is not limited to an apparatus for dispensing skin care products per se inasmuch as other flowable products may be dispensed in accordance with the present invention.
Some prior art dispensers, as mentioned above, include a dispenser or cabinet having a base mountable on a wall or counter top and a cover attached to the base, usually by some form of hinge that allows access to the interior of the dispenser. The base includes various types of receptacles or shelves designed to support and position a cartridge, bag or box, which itself contains the soap and which is replaceable, so that the dispenser can be refilled when the supply is exhausted. For sake of simplicity, refill cartons, boxes, bags and other receptacles will be collectively referred to by the term “cartridge.” These cartridges have various shapes and forms in the prior art. Perhaps the most common currently used are the so-called “bag-in-box” arrangements which include a collapsible bag filled with soap and a box for the storage and transportation of the bag. The box may be provided with a tear away portion that is removed to expose the bag therein.
As shown, for example, in prior art FIG. 8, in a “tube-type” dispenser 1, soap is dispensed from the cartridge 2 held at a height HT through an elongate tube 3 that extends downwardly from the cartridge 2 and terminates in a nozzle 4, which, when properly positioned, projects from the bottom of the dispenser. In this way, soap may be dispensed onto the hand of the user, generally by utilization of a hand-operated lever 5 which compresses the tube pump 4. The most common lever arrangements of the prior art involve a lever which is engaged by either the heel of the hand to depress and activate the pump or tube to dispense the fluid onto the palm and fingers of the hand or by the fingers of the hand to pull the lever toward the user to similarly depress and activate the pump and dispense the soap. All of these arrangements involve some sort of nozzle and pump assembly which generally includes various types of valving to control the flow of the soap by opening a tube to the reservoir or cartridge to fill it and then closing off the reservoir or cartridge and opening a valve to the nozzle to permit the soap to actually be dispensed. It is desirable in most instances to dispense a measured quantity or “charge” of soap with each actuation of the handle and, therefore, the tube or pump is generally elongate so that it accommodates a selected amount of soap. One example of such a dispenser is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,772 incorporated herein by reference to the extent necessary to give meaning to the present invention.
Recognizing that the elongate tube or pump used in the tube-type dispenser requires the refill bag or cartridge to be supported a significant distance above the dispensing point, in effect, reducing the volume of soap that can be stored within the dispenser, recent design efforts have been made to eliminate the tube pump to allow the soap bag to substantially fill the interior of the dispenser. One example of such an improvement is a “dome-type” pump. One example of such a dome-type pump is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,916 B1 which is incorporated herein by reference to the extent necessary to give meaning to the present invention. As shown in prior art FIG. 9, a dome-type pump 6 generally includes a base 7 that defines a chamber that is covered by a flexible membrane 8 in the form of a dome or other similar shape. The chamber includes a first valve that is adapted to draw fluid from the soap bag into the chamber and a second valve that opens externally of the dispenser that allows soap to be dispensed from the chamber to the user's hand. As will be understood, when the dome is depressed, a check valve within the first valve prevents backflow of the soap into the bag and causes the soap to be dispensed through the second valve. When the dome is released and allowed to expand, the suction created thereby draws soap from the cartridge into the chamber. In this way, a metered charge of soap is stored in the chamber. As best shown in prior art FIG. 9, the dome-type pump 6 is located closer to the bottom of the dispenser, relative to a tube-type pump (FIG. 8), freeing up additional space within the dispenser for the storage of the soap. As shown in FIG. 9, the cartridge is supported at a shorter height HD relative to the nozzle 9 of dome pump 6. In this way, a larger cartridge having greater volume of soap may be stored within the dispenser.
While the dome-type dispenser has the advantage of reducing the number of times that the dispenser needs to be filled, one disadvantage that has arisen with the use of such dispensers is the need to carry different sized cartridges, when different types of pumps are used at a given location. For example, a building may have a mixture of tube and dome-type dispensers requiring orders of two separate refill cartridges in smaller quantities than if only a single type of cartridge needed to be ordered. As can be expected, this may impact the cost of purchasing such cartridges. Consequently, it is desirable to have an adapter that allows a user to use a tube-type refill bag in connection with a dome-type dispenser.